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James Alexander-Sinclair's blogs on the subject of small trees but wanted to share my own experience - not of growing trees in the garden but in large pots.Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum' is a stunning small, slow-growing maple with the most gorgeous palm

the garden. It's a bit 'pot luck', but then that's the fun of gardening. If I really wanted to maximise my returns I could collect seed by hand, picking off the pods at the moment they split, but before they've dropped their cargo. Kept on a sheet

by our seasons.Any late-flying insects in the garden aren't complaining though. When the sun shone last weekend these white globes of bloom attracted insects from far and wide. I can't say the most desirable insects were among them (in fact there were

Summer may have started late following the June drenching, but it hasn't been a complete washout. One star performer in my garden has been a wonderful new osteospermum. I haven't grown them for a few years, but Osteospermum Sunny Philip caught my

Despite temperatures in my greenhouse dropping to zero at night but soaring by day, I've just got to get on with more seed sowing. Chillies and sweet peppers are top of my list. Last summer I had an outdoor electric socket installed for the garden

they love, so I spaced the plants more widely.Soon, the large bare areas between them started niggling me, and I planted a few compact courgettes in the spaces, along with some Tagetes 'Lemon Gem' to attract beneficial insects such as hoverflies. The adults

long trusses dripping with fruits like my 'Gardener's Delight' and other greenhouse varieties, beefsteak tomatoes set just a handful of fruits per truss, and sometimes just two or three. Greedy? No, I don't think I'm being unreasonable in expecting

the right plant for the right place can be a difficult task, and the reality is that often the site we have is far from ideal.Take the left-hand border in my garden. A beautiful silver birch sits close to the boundary fence, but at about 10m or more

was loading cans of paint and three new plants into my boot! Each plant had produced numerous short, branched stems topped by a characteristic cluster of violet/purple flowers. They've made their home in a large terracotta pot, planted simply as a group

Hamilton actually collecting leaves fallen from trees along his road, so keen was he to make the most of Nature's bounty. Well, why leave all this lovely material for the council to collect when you could use it in your garden?Shredded leaves will rot down